John Francis Hirschbeck (born September 7, 1954) is an umpire in Major League Baseball. He worked in the American League from 1984 to 1999 and has worked throughout both major leagues since 2000. He is currently a crew chief. On February 28, 2000, Hirschbeck was elected as the first president of the newly certified World Umpires Association. He wears uniform number 17, which was also his number when the leagues maintained separate umpiring staffs.

For the 2014 season, Hirschbeck is the crew chief of Crew S. His crew members are Bob Davidson, James Hoye, and a AAA Fill In Umpire.

According to Hirschbeck, he began umpiring as a senior in high school; short of money to attend his prom, he started umpiring for $5 a game. He continued in college and umpired in the minor leagues for seven years.[1]

Although most umpires stay out of the public eye, Hirschbeck came to be widely known for an on-field incident on September 27, 1996 in Toronto when Baltimore OrioleRoberto Alomar got into a heated, two-way argument with Hirschbeck over a called third strike. Hirschbeck then ejected Alomar from the game, and Alomar spat in Hirschbeck's face, claiming that the umpire had used a degrading ethnic slur against him. Lip readers contend that Hirschbeck called Alomar "a faggot" as Alomar was walking away.[2] Alomar, and other players, claimed that Hirschbeck's personality had been extremely bitter since one son had died from adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and another son had been diagnosed with it. Having heard Alomar's remarks, Hirschbeck charged into the Orioles' clubhouse the next day and he had to be restrained by fellow umpire, Jim Joyce. Alomar was suspended for five games and required to donate $50,000 to ALD research. By October 5, Hirschbeck said he had forgiven Alomar for the incident.

Alomar and Hirschbeck made public apologies to each other on April 22, 1997, standing at home plate and shaking hands in front of the crowd before an Orioles game. "You know, I just wanted to put it behind us," Hirschbeck said on an interview to the Arizona Republic in 2005. "I said something to him once and it just flooded out how sorry he was."

Hirschbeck and Alomar joined forces to raise awareness about ALD and to raise funds for research. They came to regard each other as friends. When asked about the incident at his retirement in 2005, Alomar said, "That, to me, is over and done. It happened over nine years ago. We are now great friends. We have done some things with charity. God put us maybe in this situation for something." Alomar later made a donation of $252,000 for research on adrenoleukodystrophy.

John's brother Mark Hirschbeck served as an umpire from 1988 to 2003, with the pair becoming the first brothers to become major league umpires.

On April 8, 2014, Hirschbeck's son Michael died, 21 years after son John Drew's death from ALD. The cause of death was not immediately known.[7] In January 2015, Hirschbeck announced his planned return to baseball for the 2015 season, explaining how important baseball was to Michael.[8]

On August 23, 2009, Hirschbeck was diagnosed with a form of testicular cancer described as treatable by Dr. Stephen Jones of the Cleveland Clinic, causing Hirschbeck, who had missed the entire 2008 season following back surgery, to miss the remainder of the 2009 season as well. After the tumor was removed via orchidectomy, the cancer was given a 10 percent chance of recurrence, and Hirschbeck returned for the 2010 season.[9]

In August 2012 Hirschbeck advised he was again cancer-free and made plans to return to work in 2013.[11] He worked his first Spring Training game after his return to MLB on February 28, 2013, serving as the first base umpire for a Boston-Pittsburgh game.[12]